A Sharp Sting (Hiccstrid)
by AValkyriesWisp
Summary: Hiccup moves back to his hometown. He develops a crush on a student named Astrid, and he chooses to flirt with her by leaving her detailed sketches. In the surrounding forest, Hiccup finds a deteriorating satchel with a bangle and a mysterious blue crystal. The crystal takes him to a viking-like reality.
1. Returning to Berk

Past.

Hiccup's family never talked about it. It's the only thing they never brought up. He had tried and tried to sneak into his fathers study, but no avail. His Father, Stoick, watched him like a hawk. The only way Hiccup could get away from his fathers gaze is when he dreamed. He loved it. Hiccup could be whatever he wanted, wherever he wanted. Sometimes he dreams of being a famous inventor. Building magnificent and amazing things the likes of no one has ever seen before.

But only very rarely...

...Hiccup would dream of his mother.

Hiccup never knew his mother, because she had died when he was still a baby in the cradle. But often fragments of her come to mind. Her brown hair, eyes of forest green and the sweetest of voices.

"I miss you."

Moving everything into the house had been a challenge. Stoick owned so many things. He was a hoarder, he wanted everyone to see what he had accomplished. Trophies, Certificates, Diplomas, etc. But his son was never interested in that.

"You have to be kidding me, Dad. Halfway through holidays and we're STILL moving the furniture" said Hiccup, in a very annoyed manner. His father had had enough of his obnixious whining. "WELL THEN WHY DON'T YOU JUST LET ME TAKE CARE OF IT!" bellowed Stoick. Frustrated, he picked up a massive cupboard, and went into the house, grumbling as per normal. Hiccup sat on the edge of the movers truck, and looked at his toes.

Hiccup Haddock was a skinny lad, not good at sport, a good artist, always wearing green, and a bit of a daydreamer. Well, by a bit, I mean most of the time. Back at his old house, Hiccup used to lie down under his favourite tree and stare at the sky. With a confused and angered look on his face, Hiccup got off the side of the truck, and began exploring this new house. It wasn't the house that was of most interest, it was actually the land.

It was full of trees. Almost 20 acres of forest. Hiccup felt a smile crack on his face. "Now I have something to do!" Hiccup got his brown bag, got his sketchbook. Then he slung his bag around his back and, laughing, he ran into the forest.

-After weeks of mapping his land, Hiccup had discovered ways to get to places faster, and avoid people. Like his cousin, Snotlout.-

Spending the rest of the holidays marking half of the forest I own, it has come to my attention that school is near. So...very...near.

School is one of the best and worst things anyone can go through, I mean, there's good things and then there's bad things, and the bad things happen to stick to me like glue. Especially when other people are around. As far as I know (Well, according to Snotlout), most of the pupils at Berk High school ditch at lunch and go to the fanciest place in town (besides my Dad's house) which we call "The dump". It may sound bad, but I assure you that its one of the fanciest places around here. Besides the disgustingly revolting fish stew, and a body odoury type smell, it's a pretty decent place compared to any other place in town.

I'm not calling my home a bad place, not bad...I guess you could say...special...?

Anyways, Why they called the town restaurant a dump, I dunno. But I've always wanted to go there with people in it.

The restaurant owner Gobber usually lets me in after closing time to have a snack while I'm walking home. The students that ditch school never EVER let me in. I know, You're thinking: "Why the heck would you trust a guy like that?!" I don't know how or when this crippled, old stone toothed sack of beans became my Dad's friend, but he's been mine for as long as I can remember.

This is my second year of high school.. Wow...I can't believe I even survived last year. All my friends wouldn't talk to me anymore, and my bullies just became stronger (and taller...waaay taller...). Its like everyone that hates me took steroids or something.

I wonder how this year will go...

"I'm off to work now son. I'll be back next Sunday...probably."

Stoick got his suitcase and headed towards the door. "and I'll be here...maybe." Hiccup said. The door slammed right next to Hiccup hurting his ears. "Doesn't he know that I have a life outside of the house as well?" Hiccup grabbed the doorknob and tried to open the door. It wouldn't budge. "Huh?" Hiccup scanned the side of the door with his forest green eyes to reveal that his Father, Stoick had slammed the door so many times, it got stuck. He could see little cracks along the side of the door.

"I'm going to have to tell Gobber. Now...to find a way out...better check the time thoug-DAMMIT!" It was 9:00. The bell would have already rung! DAMN! *Ahh! What do I do...What do I say? what do I-Snotlout?* Hiccup saw Snotlout running around like a wild boar outside his house. *What was he doing? Is he-Wait, this is my opportunity!*

"Snotlout! Hey! Snotlout!" Hiccup yelled. Snotlout snickered in return. He knew he could hear him. "WHADDAYA DOIN IN THERE HICCUP?! PLAYING FAIRYS? YOU BABY! AHAHAHAAHAH!" The twins were behind him. They were new recruits of his gang of-well, three. "Oh, is this Hiccup's house? would've thought it as a sewer, hey sis?" "Hehe Yeah, Its like our house, a sewer." What? you know nothing of architecekektualary design-uh-Imagery! "you made that word up, didn't you?" "Oh yeah?" Ruffnut and Tuffnut started fighting.

They're twins. Ruffnut's the girl and Tuffnut is the boy. I think.

Snotlout groaned "AW COME ON! YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN IN THIS GANG FOR ONLY LIKE A WEEK AND-" Snotlout was interrupted by Tuffnut saying: "A week is seven days, and we've been in your club, gang, tribe of three people-whatever for about-" "SHUT UP!" Snotlout retorted. "Here, grab these." Snotlout held out cans of spray paint.

"Oh no..." My cousin and his 'gang' are about to spray paint my house...I need evidence.

"C'mon, C'mon, C'mon!"

KABLAM! The door flinged open. Hiccup hid behind his door on the top of the stairs.

"Come out, come out wherever you are! I'm going to murder you!" said Snotlout. Snotlout's favourite pastime was in some way bullying or teasing his cousin Hiccup.

"UUuuh Snotlout, It doesn't look like He's here."

"Oh I know he's here Tuff."

"You know? So you have superpowers?"

"What? No! Why would I have superpowers?!"

"Oh, Okay...Magic powers then?"

"COULD YOU PLEASE STOP TALKING?!" Screamed Snotlout. Tuffnut immediately stopped talking. "Don't worry, you guys, No one will catch us. Hehehhe..." Then Snotlout threw something into the room and ran out the door.

Hiccup couldn't be more afraid. Snotlout had jut planted a spray paint bomb (which was a small bomb with spray paint unsafely sticky-taped on it. In this case, twelve different cans!

What a great end to the holidays.

Three. Two. One.

8.30pm, Sunday night.

Wow...so...all I can really say is that a lot has happened over the week. And Mondays are tough.

I missed the first day of school due to cleaning the house of all the paint, which was why I had a pain in my back.

Thank goodness Dads on a business trip.

So when I finally got to school the next day, I had missed orientation. which meant I had to ask people to show me to places. Eh...I'm not a very "social" person. So that didn't go down well.

What DID (mostly) go well the other day was when I got shown around the school (after people knew I existed, of course) I was shown around by a girl. Not a bad day for a fifteen year old such as myself.

Now, I know i had only moved here a while ago but for some reason she just looked... * **I recommend you turn the music on here** *

...familiar.

And beautiful..really...really beautiful.

Wow...jeez. Anyway, I did a couple sketches of what she looked like...well, maybe not a couple. I'm thinking of putting it through her locker and seeing if she likes it...

But I'm definitely not gonna tell her its me. OH! I should think of a cool nickname! Something she'll really like!

Uh...Vesper? Nope.

Ajax? Ugh...sounds like I'm eating a chainsaw.

Cloud? Nah, too Final Fantasy.

Storm? Fly... Stormfly? Huh. Stormfly it is then.

Wait...how will I know If she likes it or not? Better leave a message...in different handwriting, of course. Hmmm...

That ought to work.

Hiccup slumped back in his swivel chair after what seemed like hours of working on a picture of Astrid.

He didn't know what drove him to draw this girl, he hardly even SPOKE to her when she was showing him around the school. In fine handwriting, with his favorite dark green calligraphic pen, he wrote:

The sketch was marvelous. Drawn with entirely black and white charcoal pencils, it seemed almost alive. It was a portrait of her face, being cut off at her neck. Hiccup had thought to giver her a side-braid, the idea suddenly popping into his head during sketching out the main face. The whole image was black and white, although he used blue pencil to highlight her sky blue eyes and her cheeks, that was all.

"Man, I hope she likes it." yawned Hiccup. He was kind of proud of himself to be actually doing this. Normally, he would have just observed the girl he liked and just said nothing, but new, manly, 15 year old Hiccup decided enough was enough, and he had to make a move. Slowly packing all his things up, he went to go wash his charcoal-stained hands, and get ready for the sleep that was calling him.


	2. Divine Beauty

Hiccup pretended to read a book on the other side of the hall of lockers while looking for Astrid.  
"Should I just run and take it out?"  
"Did I put it in the RIGHT locker?"  
"What if she hates it?!"  
All these questions were swirling around in Hiccups head, he only just noticed Astrid closing her locker and walking towards the stairwell.  
Well, at least he put it in the right locker.  
He quickly got up and hurried away, taking the opposite stairwell to the back of the school. He didn't notice he was sweating. "Hey dorkwad! Can you get any smellier? You smell like if Ruff and Tuff barfed on you!"  
Twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut proceeded to cheer and bang their heads together.  
"Yeah - Wait, what is HICCUP doing stealing our thunder?!" protested Tuffnut.  
"Yeah, give us our stench back"continued his sister  
With both Ruff, Tuff and Snotlout walking towards him, Hiccup backed away and proceeded towards a shortcut through the forest. "Look guys I'm really not in the mood, ok? I gotta get home."  
Snotlout retorted "Yeah you should, we left you a little surprise" He grinned and walked towards the bus stop.  
Hiccup awkwardly jumped over the rusty old fence, and walked into the forest. Sighing, he put his hands over his face.  
"Do I always have to be the one they pick on? Man, I need to toughen up"  
Hiccup proceeded to hit a tree branch that flicked up and hit him in the face "O-OW"

He then noticed, An old, dead mossy tree with what looked like...claw marks on it?  
"Huh" said Hiccup. He could tell that the claw marks were old, but that didn't stop a small bit of fear entering his mind. He continued down the path, a small slope before meeting two rocks. He noticed the new and dead trees made a small dome looking area around this place near the rocks. There was a hole in between the rocks, which Hiccup assumed was the way into this dome like place.

"I haven't gone this far into the forest before, but, what the hell." he said to himself before squeezing his way in between the rocks.  
About halfway through the giant rock hallway, Hiccup noticed there were strange carvings on parts of the rocks. He felt like he...knew those symbols. They looked a bit like runes. Hiccup carefully got his notebook out of his green jacket pocket and wrote down the five runes.

Continuing his way towards the opening, it looked tough to squeeze through, but a fish bone like himself would have no problem.  
Hiccup hadn't looked up at the scenery until his whole body was out of the hole. He looked up, and he gasped.  
It looked like a small cove. Remnants of a lake could be seen across the area. A long dead tree curled its way towards the sky and created a small shelter underneath. roots could be seen everywhere. A mossy rock to his left reminded him of a small cliff. It looked very majestic indeed. Majestic but sad.

He could have only imagined (and possibly have drawn) what the cove would have looked like when everything was healthy. A lake, Trees everywhere. Birds, and the like.  
"Wow. THIS is what people are missing." But Hiccup knew people wouldn't understand. No one ever has. "If...If only Mom were here." From what he knew, she had a nack for exploring and trying out new things, unlike his father. Traditional old Stoick.

Hiccup entered his classroom, sat at his desk and pulled out his laptop. He was searching for anything relating to that rune he had seen carved into the rocks. After searching on the internet the whole night, he did find something out.

The runes spelt out dreki.

Old Norse for dragon!  
He did know that the Vikings that lived here hundreds and hundreds of years ago did believe in dragons, and to be honest, he did have quite a fascination with them as well. He just wanted to know why it was in the middle of two rocks, and why no one else had found the place.  
Just when he was about to open a new tab and search Vikings of Berk, something caught his eye. Astrid had sat next to him. Well, that wasn't unusual because she was assigned that desk at the start of the year. But there was something different about her.  
She had her hair in a cute braid. Just like in his sketch of her. 

Because Astrid was popular within the school, there were people complimenting her on her new hairstyle left and right. Hiccup, of course, just sat back and watched.

"Wait a second...what happened to manly Hiccup? I was the one that influenced her to change her hair! I've gotta make a move!" Hiccup motivated himself before awkwardly getting up out of his seat, facing Astrid.  
"You - uh - look...okay today"  
Astrid looked up at him, blinking. Then she smiled awkwardly and went back to work.

Did he really just say that?! Okay?! Really?!  
Panicking, Hiccup slowly re-seated himself. He was as red as a tomato.

"That...that didn't go well." he said to himself. He decided that sticking with an anonymous name would work. But now he wanted to elaborate his plan by...getting her to write back.  
Using the same charcoal pencil, he spent most of his lunch in a corner, in the library, sketching another picture of Astrid. After finishing yet another astonishingly detailed artwork, Hiccup signed it with his green calligraphic pen, and carefully wrote:  
Tell me what you think. My Skype is: worldsdistant  
Of course he wasn't going to show his face. He was just going to message. That was all. Funny though, these are the kinds of people the media tell you not to trust. And here he was.  
A smile went across his face when the end of school bell rang. He waited until everyone left, and quickly slipped the folded sketch into Astrid's locker.

He looked out the window to make sure Snotlout and his gang weren't around. He was relieved to know that he would make it safely home. He still wanted to have a snoop around the Cove. He had only looked around the first half before what used to be a lake had dipped down into the earth.  
Taking what was left over of his lunch, he sat down on the small cliff and ate the rest of his sandwich. He brought a small torch with him so he could better see what was around him. This time, a new area had opened up to him. there seemed to be various burn marks on the dead trees and even ...claw marks on them. Unusually large ones.  
Hiccup gulped loudly, but continued on. He made his was into the tree shelter.

"Could there be a bear? No, bears aren't around these areas...I hope"

It was small, but was big enough for someone to sleep in. He wondered if this was an old shelter the vikings used. But before he could have a bigger look, something caught his eye.  
More runes...and something else. What looked like a rock.  
Upon closer inspection. It was an old pouch. A very old one, indeed. "I wonder whether I should contact a Museum or something" though Hiccup, "But then again, they'd probably put it in some storage room..."

He couldn't help himself.

Carefully unlocking the latch of the pouch, he opened the bag.

He immediately saw some kind of stone. Shining at him, it was a blue stone He'd never seen before. He tried comparing it to any other crystal, but none matched. Diamond...no. But he knew it was valuable. Looking through the bag further, he found a small bracelet with what looked like a two dragons on it. Inspecting it closely, it was two pieces of metal curled around each other, and in the center of the bracelet there was two dragons, curling around, forming a circle, in perfect harmony. Impressive for the Viking era, thought Hiccup. He carefully sketched out the bag, the bracelet and the strange blue stone before carefully placing the bracelet back in the bag, but keeping the stone.

Since the bag and the bracelet were deteriorating, Hiccup thought it was right to bury the artifacts and the pouch, as well as a few bits and bobs - old tools and the like. He wanted no one else to find them, but he also wanted to return someone else's property to the ground. The stone, however, needed more inspecting.

After a while walking, Hiccup finally got home. After opening his curtains, Hiccup realised it was already dusk. After such a historical find, Hiccup nearly forgot about the sketch and the skype thing. He quickly got on his new skype profile.  
To his delight, he found that one person had wanted to add his name into their contacts.  
A profile picture of an axe, followed by the username Axe_Maiden (Typical Astrid!) had messaged saying:  
"Hello."  
She was still online.  
Being a good writer, he sounded much more confident than in spoken word. A risk taker in the online world.

H: "Hello there, Divine Beauty"  
A: "So you know the Old Norse for my name XD how r u?"  
H: "Pretty good. how r u?"

A: "A bit confused...did you really draw those pictures of me?"

H: "You bet. I can draw you more if you like"  
A: Yes please. Maybe you could draw yourself for me?"  
H: "Sorry, but i cant"  
A: "Why not? I have an axe, you know. a real one."  
H: "all the more reason why i refuse to show my face"

A: "good comeback. anyway, what do you like? Do you like dragons? I enjoy reading up on them, rather than pouring through the boring af history of our own town. yuck xD"  
H: "right you are, milady. I love dragons, and hate how boring our town is lmao"  
A: "Cool. why don't you draw a dragon for me to ride?"  
H: "it would be my pleasure."  
A: "thanks, Stormfly."  
H: "no problem, milady. night"  
A: "night"  
Well, that actually went pretty well. Even though it was a short conversation, and she didn't know who he really was, at least he was actuall to her.

Hiccup happily spent the rest of the night drawing a blue dragon resembling a parrot, which he affectionately named Stormfly.  
See? Flirting actually isn't that bad.

As the weeks of the first term passed and break was nearing, Astrid and "Stormfly" had been talking almost every day. It came to the point where Hiccup actually WANTED to tell her who he was. But how? He was almost certain that Astrid would never talk to him again.  
Because of schoolwork and talking with Astrid, Hiccup had only gotten to look at the blue stone he found once or twice. Today was the day Hiccup would actually experiment with the stone to see what it actually was.

After a few hours or so of setting up various equipment and documenting the stones reactions, Hiccup opened his curtains.  
The moment natural light had hit the stone, it shone so bright, the teen had to cover his eyes. He quickly closed the curtains in shock.

But he wanted to see more. He was always really curious, once he found something new, he had to find out how it worked. So after a few deep breaths, he flew the curtains apart and faced the crystal. This time it started to make a ringing noise.

Hiccup suddenly started to feel dizzy, and the light that was blinding him wasn't helping either.  
"What...is this?"Hiccup groaned as he slumped against his bed and fell unconscious.

Hiccup started to see colors, which turned into figures and scenery. His head was spinning. Images of what looked like a man with...a black dragon appeared. It was as if he was seeing it through blurred glass. Images of a man and what looked like..a dragon. And a girl.

"Astrid?!

Hiccup assumed he was lucid dreaming since he did it all the time, but why was ASTRID in his dream?

Was it even Astrid? It definitely looked like her.

He could make out a sidebraid like he had drawn, only she looked a bit different. She was with a blue dragon...the one that he drew. Stormfly.  
"What...What's happening?" asked Hiccup. He knew he wasn't going to get an answer, but sure enough, there was a bright flash, and he could now see what was...the cove.

In its former glory.

It was exactly how Hiccup had imagined it. Only blurrier.  
The scenery then transformed. He could see a huge black figure approach him. It was without a doubt the outline of the dragon. Hiccup involuntarily held out his hand. Terrified, he begged himself to wake up.

The dragon approached him, and to his relief, didn't hurt him (even though Hiccup thought it was a lucid dream, it was as real as anything). The dragon gently left something in Hiccups hand.  
The scenery then changed back to a grassy area, where the girl that resembled Astrid was awaiting him. It was a little clearer this time. Now, he noticed that she was wearing the bracelet he had found. Before he could inspect more, the scenery then flashed white again, and it faded to only black.

"Give the bracelet to the girl, only then will you unlock your past" said a mysterious voice.

Frightened, Hiccup said nothing. He COULDN'T say anything. His lips were sealed shut.

Then he awoke.

Pinching himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming (which he wasn't) he looked up and realized the sun had gone down.  
"What...what was that" said a panicked, nauseated Hiccup.

He proceeded to hastily throw all his rune sketches and the crystal in his drawer. It was driving him crazy. He HAS to be crazy. What sane person could see something like that. He sat on his bed and ran his hand through his hair.

"O-Ow.." proclaimed Hiccup as something on his hand got caught in his hair. After managing to rip it out, he gasped as it was a ring. on his index finger was a ring. He remembered it as the one the dragon had left in his hands. "No...nonononono!" yelled Hiccup as he tried to pry the ring off his finger. But it would not budge./p  
"Okay...this is getting way too creepy" said Hiccup. "What else happened...the girl...the dragons...THE VOICE! What did she say...uh..." Hiccup got out his notebook and began writing the words.

"Give...the...bracelet...to the girl, only...then...will you unlock your past. Alrighty."

After spending the night taking all of this in and trying to get the "Dragon Ring" off, Hiccup gives up on both and gets on his skype.

H: Hey u online?  
A: i am now :(

He began to feel more at ease now that he was speaking with the most beautiful and intelligient girl in his world.

H: hehe sorry. i'm guessing you're resting from kickboxing?  
A: you remembered! yeah, i 'ma bit disappointed though, because i totally failed with my reverse tumble.  
H: im sure you'll do awesome next time, you're Astrid!

A: :) thx. hey havent we been speaking for almost 4 months? shit xD  
H: yeah actually its been a few days more. Not like i've been keeping track haha :)  
A: ...  
H: ?  
A: why don't you tell me who you are?  
H: well...i'm just having problems at the moment. with grades and...stuff.  
A: im sure you could get someone like hiccup to help you out, if he'll talk.  
H: hiccup? what do you think about him?

A: i sit next to him in my class, but i dont really talk to him much. he just mumbles. he isn't a bad guy, i guess hes just...weirdly misunderstood.

Hiccup sat back in his chair, considering Astrids honest thoughts on him. "Misunderstood? Weird? Definitely."

H: ah ok. so who would you consider getting tutoring from?  
A: mmm probably fishlegs or someone like that  
H: alrighty then  
A: you ok?  
H: I dunno..  
A: maybe we could video chat or something...  
H:...i think...maybe we can tomorrow.  
A: cool! im looking forward to it  
H: i said maybe  
A: maybe means yes.:)night  
H: night

Hiccup logged out and got into his bed. Sooner or later he'll have to face Astrid in person. He was kind of excited about it, but also a bit scared. He sat there and fiddled with what he named the Dragon Ring for a few minutes and then turned off his lamp and went to sleep./p


	3. The Night Fury and the Deadly Nadder

Hiccup had spent the whole of the weekend making a replica of the bangle he had found deteriorating in an old satchel. He was nervous. Very nervous.

"Ok...lets go through this again. Step one, leave her a sketch telling her to go to the back of the dump, step two..." He went through the steps for the whole school day until it was finally time.

Astrids POV

"Stormfly said he would video chat me today (well he said maybe), i wonder if he'll actually comply..."

Astrid was walking to her locker when the thought of having another sketch in her locker popped into her head. She then started speed walking up the stairs. She had a feeling something was opening up her locker, she was excited to see that there was a picture of her, but it was different to what she had received before. This picture of her was a full body portrait. She looked older, almost twenty. Her hair was in a sidebraid, and her facial features were pretty much the same. what was different was the outfit she was wearing. She was wearing a deep red tank top, a belt with skulls on it, and a leather spike-studded skirt with a fur layer under it. She loved the idea of the sketch, and even more so the hood that was resting on her shoulders.

"I look badass." she said, with a proud grin on her face.

She noticed there was green ink from the back of the page bleeding through. She turned it over, and the words said;

"Go to the back of Gobbers Dump."

Astrid almost scowled at the fact that this 15 year old boy that went to her school (that was all she knew about him) was asking her to meet him at the back of some low star restaurant. She sighed, grabbed her bag, and went down the stairs anyway. After what seemed like 6 seconds, she went round the corner to the back of the only restaurant in Berk. Astrid was cautious. The stench was unlike anything she'd ever smelt. After a bit of waiting, she knocked on the back of the door, which was hastily opened by a large man, whose long, blonde, braided moustache was uneven. Astrid noticed him from when he worked the checkout at the nearest store. This man seemed to have every job there is.

"Your names Astrid, right?" Said who she assumed was Gobber, with the thick accent. She slowly nodded. "I was told to tell ye to head to the park. The one beside the forest."

He looked, and Astrid was already walking.

"That's a bit vague" she thought to herself while speed-walking to the area. It was almost 4.00pm by the time she got there, and she, again, had come across a note half-under a rock on a seat, so it wouldn't get blown away by the semi-cold wind.

She picked it up, and again, there were directions.

"Stay there" it said.

"Uh, hi." Said a voice from behind her. It sounded awkward and not at all how she imagined this mans voice to be. She turned around to be faced by….

"…Hiccup?"

Hiccup breathed out a nervous sigh in response, "Ah….yeah. You got me."

Astrid had started sweating. She couldn't believe someone like him could….well, to be honest, she didn't actually know much about him. She immediately put on a threatening look, and her fists were clenched. "OK OK OK I know this is NOT AT ALL what you wanted" whispered a nervous Hiccup "Do w-whatever you want….drag me back, punch me. I deserve it 100 p-percent" Astrid grabbed his collar and held him for a bit. She was flustered beyond comprehension. No one had ever done this before. Ever.

Hiccup closed his eyes, ready for what pain was to come, when she slowly put him down.

Astrid didn't know why she did it. I mean…there was no real reason to punch him. "Did you…..did you draw these?" she said.

"Yeah, actually. I hope they're alright." He said with a little more confidence. "Thank you" said Astrid, quicker than normal. A slight blush went upon her cheeks.

After what seemed ages of awkward silence, Hiccup finally remembered what he had to say. In truth this went much better in his head. "OH-umm…here i-uh….i have something for you." He said while rummaging in his backpack.

"Hurry it up or I might rethink punching you." Said Astrid. It was, well, tha only thing she could think of to say. In truth, she knew almost NOTHING about this kid.

"OK pleasedonthurtme Ok? I got it, I got it."

Hiccup stood back up and fumbled with the box. Astrid fought back a laugh by covering her mouth and pretending she was coughing. He looked back up at her and said "Here."

Hiccup handed the blonde a small box. As she opened it, her eyes grew wider as she made out what it was. A beautiful bangle. With little dragons on it and everything. Boy, if she wasn't so tough on the outside, she'd be giggling like a little girl.

"It's beautiful. Where…..where did you get it?" She asked.

"I made it myself." Replied Hiccup, who couldn't stop smiling.

Astrid fit the bangle on, and fit perfectly on her wrist. She looked up at the boy, and noticed all his features. A small scar on the bottom left of his cheek, and lovely forest green eyes.

Astrid quickly snapped out of it with a swift punch to his gut.

Hiccup winced "OW! Hey what was that for?!" Astrid smirked, and replied with "That's for never telling me who you were until now."

"ok….so do you still want to…uh….hang out and stuff? We could meet up here sometimes? Like after school or someth—"

Astrid cut in and said "sure! Uh…after school. Here. Um. Ok. And uh-"

Hiccup was caught off guard (well, he's always off guard) with a small kiss on the cheek by his crush, Astrid Hofferson. "That's for being so sweet."

Astrid quickly ran away.

She couldn't believe she had gone and done that. Did she even do It right? Had she done it right? What if they don't speak anymore? Astrid noticed she was blushing wildly as she put her cold hands against her boiling face. That only caused her to run faster to her house.

Hiccup, however, was still standing there, processing what had just happened, the feeling of Astrid's lips still on his cheek, even though she kissed him for a millisecond.

He just stood there, savouring the moment. But that moment was ruined once he had noticed the Dragon Ring glowing. With a concerned look on his face, Hiccup put his hand over the ring, hiding the light, and went through the forest shortcut to his home.


	4. A Sharp Sting

Astrid sat in her room, listening to music and admiring her bangle.

"He must really like me if he gave something this precious to me..." she thought. Sometimes she thought she needed this girliness, to make her feel like she was actually a teenager and not the machine some people portray her as.

It was midnight and she couldn't sleep. She liked having alone time, alone with her music. It calmed her down, and brought her back to Earth in a way.

But now, it seemed, was time to go to sleep.

"Ugh, I have that stupid art authentication tomorrow.." - she rolled over and went to sleep, music still in her ears.

Hiccup was in his room, documenting the glowing of the ring in his journal.

'The Ring was glowing from the time Astrid left til the time I got home, which was through the forest.' Was the forest possibly the key? No, Hiccup still believed it was a reaction by some sort of phosphorescence.

Hiccup rubbed his eyes. "There has to be some kind of explanation.." He turned his head to look at the clock. He wasn't worried about the art authentication tomorrow morning because he knew he'd do well. He always does.

Astrid would be in that class.

He couldn't stop thinking about the fact she even **_spoke_** to him _._ Hiccup blushed again as he remembered the moment they'd shared. But a pang of fear shivered through his body as well.

It was morning, and Astrid was not looking forward to it. Her art was due today, and to be honest,

"This is crap." she said as she fell onto her bed with her portfolio in hand. All these sketches of gloomy, horrific scenes. Violence, blood and gore...and...it wasn't what she was feeling. It was cool, of course, but...

"This isn't me. I have to do it again." she said as she leapt up to head off to school, leaving her portfolio on the bed.

She remembers Hiccup from yesterday. Stuttering, scared. She'd even dragged him back like he said she would. She wasn't proud of what she's made herself appear as. After the roll call, Hiccup knew it was time to go to Art. For the fiftieth time, in the back of his head, he knew that he'd been dreading to see Astrid.

He left the classroom and went up the steps of the school to go to the Art room, the first one on the right.

"Good morning, class" said the spritely teacher, coffee in hand.

"You can all open your portfolios while I take the roll, okay?" she said with a smile.

He couldn't believe what he was doing. Skipping class?

Only because he felt to nauseous while walking up those steps. God knows how much he'd get bullied if he threw up at the door. Hiccup grabbed his bag and headed to the office to go home. The school was small, so was the town, and having a sick bay at school was nonsense, when the only person that was sick most of the time was Hiccup himself.

Astrid couldn't face having nothing to turn in to class, so, as usual, she skipped it.

Walking near the place they had met yesterday, Astrid remembered seeing Hiccup in the corner of her eye running away into the forest. Curiosity piqued her interest when she noticed the path he had been walking.

"Okay..." she said to herself, carefully skidding down the slope towards the woods. once she hit flat ground, all she could see in front of her was thick brush. It was starting to get cold, nearing the middle of the school year, so tinges of cold light were scattered throughout her surroundings.

After walking cautiously for some time, she came upon a sudden low, crater-like piece of land. The pathway seemed to stop here.

Astrid used her thin figure to easily slip between the two rocks and outlying branches, as she reckoned Hiccup would have been doing. As she rose up from the entry point, she gasped,

"Wow.."

She was standing in a Cove that, judging by the makeshift hut, was Hiccups...sanctuary you could call it. He seemed like the kind of guy to spend copious amounts of time alone.

A small head popped up from inside the hut.

"Astrid?!"

Hiccup had been there the whole time, not that it surprised her.

Stupidly, he asked "uh...Why aren't you in school?" with that cheesy fake smile on his face.

Astrid calmed herself, walked over near the hut, and casually sits on a rock.

"Because. And I could ask the same about you" Hiccup wasn't expecting that response, as she could clearly tell. "I..ah-um i was HELPING...my dad with some stuff..a-and i got some free time soo..." Astrid scowled; "At 9.30 in the morning? Doubt it."A string of awkward silence was followed by Hiccup slowly heading back into the hut to get to work."Hiccup - about yesterday-"

"No no, it's fine, We can forget all about it, it's okay" he responded.

Hiccup could be heard rummaging around the hut while Astrid looked out at the lake in the cove.

"Ah, I'm sorry Astrid" he said while stopping to sit at his desk.

"Don't be.." she replied."..I really like it" she said as she looked at the bangle on her wrist. After realizing what she'd said, she backtracked with "You're a godforsaken creep though. Drawing pictures of me like you...you like me or something."

"Um...Okay" Hiccup said vaguely.

"Uh..Okay? Why would you be okay with th-" Astrid turned around to see a glowing green light coming from within the hut. Astrid got up and walked around so she could see the inside.

"What are you doing?"

Hiccup was very focused, obviously experimenting on something, and documenting it, as he can be seen staring at the glowing object and writing down everything he saw.

It was a ring.

"Wow, what is it?" Astrid stared in awe as the beautiful ring lit up the hut. "I found it in this cove. I built this hut so I can study the artefacts I find here. Astrid found this all too cool, but she refrained from showing it. "ah, okay. Why don't you take the ring off and study it?" Hiccup sighed, "It won't budge. I would tell you more, but you wouldn't believe m-"

"Tell me!" Astrid said, a little bit to excited than she should have been. She chastised herself in her head.

Hiccup looked at her and thought a bit. "Maybe later.." he replied. Astrid wouldn't usually take no for an answer, but her eyes were fixated on something covered in cloth. "Whats that?" She asked. The teen was almost drawn to it.

Hiccup had taken the gem from his drawer a while ago and wrapped it in cloth so no light could get to it. He wondered... what if the light from the ring made the gem react differently. He noticed Astrid reaching out to grab it.

"Stop!"

Astrid froze and looked at Hiccup "w...What?"

"Open it...slowly. I want to document its reaction to the ring." he answered.

Astrid carefully unfolded the cloth to reveal a brilliant blue gem. It took her a few seconds to notice her all three artifacts, the bangle, the ring and the gem she was holding were glowing.

"Hiccup.. what it this.." she said before facing away, as the light was becoming too bright.

Hiccup forgot about documenting the reaction, as he couldn't control his arm, which was moving closer to the gem, as was Astrid's.

"I don't know..I can't control..." he closed his eyes and faced away from the light

The closer they moved to the gem, the brighter the light became, until they all touched.

And when they touched, both Astrid and Hiccup immediately fell into the void of unconsciousness.


	5. Head On Your Shoulder

Astrid awoke to the sound of rain. Still in a daze, she couldn't quite figure out what was going on. Trying to piece together her thoughts, she looked to the left of her and saw Hiccup also lying on the ground, still unconscious. Then it all came rushing back to her.

The Ring, the gemstone and the bangle.

She looked down at her wrist. The bangle was there, but she couldn't find the gem. And as a matter of fact, she didn't recognize this place at all. This wasn't the run down hut she was sitting near earlier. Earlier...how long had they been out for? Never mind that.

Astrid rubbed her eyes and took in her surroundings. They were surrounded by tree roots and branches. She was beginning to think perhaps a tree fell on them. The slow patter of droplets seeping in from the makeshift shelter took her out of her thoughts.

It was beginning to get cold..through the darkness Astrid could see a way to get out of the mossy jail. She shimmied through the tight fit of intertwining roots and vines, leaving Hiccup by himself.

Looking around, it was foggy, which prohibited Astrid from even guessing what time it was. It could be the late afternoon, for all she'd know.

Shivering, she looked around for anything she could find for warmth. She was about to walk off in an unknown direction when she realized..she was an absolute sludgebucket. She had her bag on. Rummaging through the first zip compartment she found her lighter and..her phone!

"Come on...work!" she exclaimed as she couldn't get any bars. Frustrated, she tried calling, finding her location and even figuring out what time it was. But creepily, it seemed like her phone had reset its time...

Astrid began to panic.

"Help! Help!" she yelled.

As embarrassed as she was screaming help, Astrid noticed she was...bruised. Her hair had fallen out, and the left strap of her tank top was ripped. Luckily she put her fur hoodie in her bag before going to - skipping school. "This wouldn't have anything to do with Hiccup, would it?" she thought as she headed back with her backpack in hand. "No" she answered to herself.

Back in the little shelter with what wood she could scavenge, along with a ripped up magazine to act as a starter, Astrid lit her little fire pit while Hiccup, still knocked out, lay next to the warmth.

Astrid saw him still shivering. In a moment of compassion, the girl grabbed her hoodie out of her bag and placed it over him to act as a blanket.

Thunder could be heard in the distance. She could neither tell whether it had come or gone.

Astrid spent a little while poking and prodding at the fire while continuously checking her phone to see if there was any service, making sure not to run out of much battery. In the corner of her eye, she spotted Hiccup moving. He looked...peaceful. He sure LOOKED it, covered in HER fur hoodie and snuggled next to a warm fire. She hated to admit it, but she was beyond freezing. In all truthfulness, she yearned to warm up next to him, but didn't want to weird him out or disturb the boy. She blushed...

"Astrid?" said Hiccup. His head was peaking out underneath her hoodie.

Astrid did the only thing that came to her mind. She got up, trudged over to him, and threw her heavy bag at his gut.

"OOF- what was that for?" exclaimed the now fully woken up teen.

Astrid was furious.

"WHAT DID YOU DO? I CAN'T GET A SIGNAL, I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE I AM - AND...AND ITS RAINING OUTSIDE!" she said in a huff. Hiccup, as disoriented as Astrid was when she awoke, replied, "Okay. What now?" Astrid was stuck. She didn't expect that response. "Um...uh..." She calmed down a bit, sitting back in her corner. "I don't know. I guess..."

Hiccup noticed she started thinking. He knew she was intelligent, and admired how she can put her mind to unique situations. He truly loved that about her.

Astrid eyes looked up. "..Once this rainstorm dies down, we can start packing up and figuring out where we are. I would guess, since you're the son of...Stoick?"

Hiccup nodded.

"Yeah, since you're the son of our Mayor, people would want to find you pretty fast. There'd probably be search parties out there already."

Hiccup sat up. "Okay, that's good. What about your parents?" he questioned.

Astrid looked at the floor. "Well, my mom..and my dad - they don't take care of me. I can manage on my own." she said, with a hint of adolescent confidence. "You live alone?" Hiccup said in awe. Astrid held back a chuckle at the boy's naivety. "Yeah, I do. It's all well and good, but sometimes.." she trailed off. Hiccup suddenly showed a concerned expression. Like something was wrong.

"Where's the gem? And the Dragon Ring? and the -"

This time Astrid actually laughed. "Ah, you remembered. I checked. Your stones gone. But the bangle's still on me. Also...Dragon Ring?"

Hiccup looked at his right hand. Yup, there it was.

"I called it the Dragon Ring. Y-yeah..it's stupid.." he mumbled awkwardly. Astrid rolled her eyes. "You know, not EVERYTHING you do is stupid. C'mon, you gotta have more confidence in y - "

Astrid was cut off by the resounding boom of thunder. The teen hoped and prayed he didn't hear her yelp. Hiccup was also startled, but noticed Astrid was a lot more shaky.

Hiccup realized she was wet. And he was wearing her hoodie. God, he wished he had woken up first. But he had more things to worry about.

"Astrid, come here" he said.

Astrid laughed shakily "haha, taking my advice, are you? That's the most confident I've ever heard you." She begrudgingly stepped over to the boy and sat next to him. She was freezing, even near a fire. It was these damn damp clothes. "Now Astrid, you may not like this.."

She knew where it was going.

"Turn around, shut your eyes, give me the hoodie." she spoke as quickly as she could.

After changing into a less than stellar outfit (A thankfully oversized hoodie), Astrid sat beside Hiccup in front of her fire. Hiccup didn't bring his phone that day, only his laptop, so he was watching a movie with it, assuming they'd be found sometime tommorrow, given that Berk isn't exactly the largest place.

As for all the questions surrounding how they got here, why their stuff isn't working, what that gem was as well as other things, they both agreed (after a short bout of arguing) to talk about it tomorrow morning...whenever that was.

Astrid couldn't help it though. The warmth of the fire, which was now dying down to coals, the calm of the rain, now reduced to a white noise-like sound, and the feeling of a person next to her, made her feel...happy.

Deep inside, Astrid never thought she was good enough. To others, she understood how they viewed her; strong, confident, independent. But she was fixated on what she could have been. All the things she could have done. But never put in the effort for it, in fear of the overwhelming emotions it may cause her. Hiccup...she knew he was fixated on her. She knows, by the way he looks at her, that he loves her deeply. If only she had that kind of courage.

Hiccup felt something push gently against his right side. He looked over and saw Astrid, asleep with her head on his shoulder.


End file.
